If it is so important to the left to stop Sarah Palin from running for President, then it is that much more important that she run - and win!

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

How ironic it is that when news emerges of Governor Palin's book becoming available prior to its expected date, she shows up in my school's library. No, she didn't show up in person and no, there was no announcement to inform interested students about her book, which reportedly is already number one on the Barnes and Noble list.

I was walking on my way to the weight room this evening when I stopped dead in my tracks after taking a few steps past the library. I backed up and took in the display in the window, which includes various books, quotes, and poetry about reading and book banning. Only one person's picture is a part of the display--and that person is Governor Palin. It was included in an old article called "Sarah Palin, aspiring book banner?" which was published in the LA Times a year ago. That article makes up a homemade poster that says, "Sarah Palin + Banned Books = Censorship."

Listen, I'm not talking about a local area library. I'm talking about a public school library, where they use this week to demonize Palin as the enemy of free thought, reading, and exploration. Nevermind the plethora of information out there that she never sought to ban books but had asked a general question of a librarian to discover how she would deal with censorship. Nevermind the numerous times Governor Palin has herself stated she never sought to ban books. And nevermind the fact that some of the books on the list, like Harry Potter, hadn't even been published yet! No, facts aren't important.

What's important is the growing determination to further a Left-wing agenda to destroy Governor Palin. What's important is the attempt to indoctrinate our children. I say indoctrinate because that is exactly what this is. As if it weren't bad enough that some schools are singing the "Mmm Mmm Mmm" praises of President Obama, chanting "Change Has Come," and changing the "Jesus" in the song "Jesus Loves the Little Children" to include Obama, now I walk past the high school library in the district where I teach, and there are falsehoods about the former vice presidential candidate. There is a clear attempt to lead our children down a particular road, and somebody has to be the road block. That somebody will be me...tomorrow when I walk back in that building and address this issue.

Librarian Jessamyn West, who blogs at librarian.net, writes, "Usually I’m just happy to see libraries even mentioned in national level politics, but not like this."

This seems like a good time to mention Banned Books Week, beginning Sept. 27, which celebrates the freedom to read. 2007's most challenged book was "And Tango Makes Three," a children's book about a penguin with two dads; books by Mark Twain and Alice Walker appear, again, on the list. Exactly what books Palin might have wanted to ban have not been identified (other than some unsupported rumors), but it's safe to assume that she won't be joining in to celebrate the idea that no books should be banned at all.

I find it interesting that this particular article states that those books weren't identified. Another falsehood. Perhaps they left that out because the truth was embarrassing. Yes, it's embarrassing to list books that didn't exist when she supposedly tried to rid the world of them.

On the left and right of the display in the library window is the poem "Manifesto" by author, Ellen Hopkins. In the poem, Hopkins blasts "zealots, biggots, and false patriots," for their desire to censor. This poem is the official poem of this year's Banned Books Week--and Governor Palin's picture is the centerpiece!

What gives them the right to place this attack in the library window? Who approved the display--or who overlooked it? Am I the only person who walked by and saw it? What impression does it give our children? What impact will this have on their vote in a few years? I am livid, as I should be. This is absolutely unacceptable behavior.

Anyone who hasn't been hiding under a rock in the past year ought to know the truth about the book banning issue, but in case someone has just slithered out, here are some facts about Palin and the so-called book banning issue.

In an article called "Palin did not ban books in Wasilla as mayor," the USA Today reported

Taylor Griffin, a McCain spokesman, said Palin raised the issue of the library's policy because there had been widespread discussion in Wasilla at that time about banning books. She was trying to understand the city's policy, he said.

"Sarah Palin has never asked anyone to ban a book," Griffin said. "It shouldn't be surprising that the new mayor of a city that had seen recent protests over books and was in the process of re-evaluating the book-challenge policies at its library would ask the librarian what those policies were."

Palin Derangement Syndrome strikes again. This time it’s hysterical librarians and their readers on the Internet disseminating a bogus list of books Gov. Sarah Palin supposedly banned in 1996. Looks like some of these library people failed reading comprehension. Take a look at the list below and you’ll find books Gov. Palin supposedly tried to ban…that hadn’t even been published yet. Example: The Harry Potter books, the first of which wasn’t published until 1998.

The smear merchants who continue to circulate the list also failed to do a simple Google search, which would have showed them that the bogus Sarah Palin Banned Book List is almost an exact copy-and-paste reproduction of a generic list of “Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States” that has been floating around the Internet for years. STACLU notes that the official Obama campaign website is also perpetuating the fraud. And it’s spread to craigslist, where some unhinged user is posting images likening Palin to Hitler. Here it is again.

[...]

It’s a fake. Not true. Total B.S. A lie.

If it gets sent to you by a moonbat friend or family member, set ‘em all straight. Fight the smears. They’ve only just begun.

Malkin hit the nail on the head. They had only just begun last year, and they still exist--in our public school libraries, of all places. Read her entire article here, which includes the bogus list of books.

She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a "What if?" question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin's first term.

[...]

One accusation claims then-Mayor Palin threatened to fire Wasilla’s librarian for refusing to ban books from the town library. Some versions of the rumor come complete with a list of the books that Palin allegedly attempted to ban. Actually, Palin never asked that books be banned; no books were actually banned; and many of the books on the list that Palin supposedly wanted to censor weren't even in print at the time, proving that the list is a fabrication.

I could go on and on, but it's not necessary. As stated, anyone who cared to know, who actually did a little fact checking of their own, already got the 411 on the deal. However, I am addressing it again because obviously some who are supposed to be in the business of educating, have not been informed or are ignoring the information, and their ignorance is impacting--shall I say infecting--our children. This cannot go unchallenged--and it won't.

My approach tomorrow? I will go into the library with the facts and present them respectfully. I will ask that Governor Palin's picture and the article be removed. If that is denied, I will request they hang another article next to it--which I will graciously provide--that refutes the falsehoods. If I do not get anywhere with the librarian, well, I'll go to the next level. It is my hope that my talk with the librarian will suffice, but we'll see what happens.

No doubt as Governor Palin's book continues to sell, even before it hits the shelves, those with an agenda will beef up their attacks to misrepresent her as uninformed, anti-intellectual, and unworthy of paying attention to. I have some serious problems with that, but as a teacher, my main problem is that their misrepresentation hurts our children. So let the truth be told.

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The book, which will be published on November 17, was a crash project. Ms. Palin actually moved temporarily to San Diego after she resigned the governorship in July so she could be close to her collaborator, Lynn Vincent. I bumped into Ms. Vincent, a former editor at the Christian-oriented World magazine, in New York a few weeks ago, where she had parked herself in a hotel close to the offices of HarperCollins while working on the book's final edits.

Ms. Vincent didn't reveal any details about the book, but did acknowledge it will describe Ms. Palin's frustration over her treatment by the staffers she inherited from the McCain campaign after her surprise pick as the GOP vice presidential nominee last year. Ms. Palin was booked on grueling interviews with hostile reporters while talk-show hosts such as Glenn Beck couldn't even get through to her aides. Mr. Beck tells me he was stunned when he picked up the phone one day just before the election to discover Sarah Palin was on the other end of the line. "She explained that she had been blocked from reaching her audience, so she was now 'going rogue' and booking her own interviews," Mr. Beck told me. "I was thrilled she had burst out of the cage they'd built for her and we were finally talking."

That incident was the only time Ms. Palin declared her independence from her keepers, and it's fitting that the title of her upcoming book will be "Going Rogue: An American Life."

Sarah Palin burst onto the political scene at the height of the 2008 presidential campaign and overnight became a national sensation. Adored by the right, bitterly reviled by the left, she is the most polarizing figure to emerge in American politics in decades. Yet for all the dirt digging and gossip that has surrounded her, very little is actually known about who she is, what she believes, and above all, about her plans for the future. In her new book, Sarah Palin tells the story of her Alaskan upbringing, her marriage and family life, her political career, her religious beliefs, and her meteoric rise to national prominence. With her customary blunt common sense, she sets the record straight about the many myths and lies that have been spun around her and lays out her vision for an America that is strong, independent, and free.

A couple things are certain: This book will be an instant bestseller, and the world will get a good look at Sarah Palin as she is--her own voice detailing her own experiences and sharing her own vision for America.

Sarah is naming her book "Going Rogue, An American Life" and this is AWESOME!

It's really funny watching some journalists seriously juggling with this trying to define "rogue" in their own favorable terms when Sarah is just having some fun! Come on! We all know what Sarah means here!

This term "Rogue" that she uses in the title, if you want to define it from the dictionary, is the "playful, mischevious" form of the word, purposefully intended and aimed to shake up our current political system, including both parties in Washington. Sarah really is a Maverick! What is funny is that Sarah is playing with the word, "rogue" as a tongue in cheek term. Crafting it to send a message.

She is playing to the press for using that word in their own description of her actions, most specifically the day when she spoke directly to the media on her own by-passing the senior Republican campaign staff. Well, good for you Sarah! I applaud you for your guts and sticking with your instincts and choosing not to put up any further with the sloppy treatment and neglect you were getting in that campaign. Your campaign staff were not doing their jobs and were disloyal to you, even though they were supposed to be working for you. The whole time you were a good loyal soldier for John McCain, and I can understand why you did what you did because that campaign did not appreciate you or let you be free to be yourself. I'm glad that the press called you "rogue" because now it gives you a great, catchy title for your book!

Sarah is also playing to the good old boys in the Republican party. It is clearly obvious that Sarah is not trying to get their approval as their candidate in 2012, otherwise, why would she shock the GOP by letting them know exactly what her style is . If the current Republican Party has the guts to welcome her as their candidate, then they will truly be sending the message of "real change" in Washington. And Sarah can be the the leader of this newly restructured party and attract fresh new candidates to help her in this change. The party could elect new candidates that can "think outside the box" like Sarah, truly serve the public, and enact good "common sense" policy for the good of the country. Sarah wants a new Republican Party to emerge that will fix the system and serve America, not themselves.

Sarah is shaking up Washington without even running for office! And this is fortunate for America because every word she says has political power. The President, the Congress and the Media are listening to her. She is more effective now as a private citizen than as a spokesperson for an elite political party! She is simply being herself, private citizen Sarah. A simple person who is able to speak for the people and be heard! How many of our elected leaders truly speak for the people? How many actually enact "common sense" policies for the good of our country... none at my last count!

So this is what I conclude about Sarah's strategy here. Our government no longer works. Sarah wants REAL CHANGE. Government leaders are not working for the country or for the American people. Sarah is letting the GOP Republican Party know that if they want her to support the Republican ticket in 2010, 0r run for President in 2012, they will need to be open and welcome new and radical change within their own party with new ideas that can fix the current system, so that our government can work effectively for America and for its people.

If the GOP Republican Party cannot welcome her "maverick" approach, then she will have no choice but to run as an Independent candidate in 2012.